West Ham vs Chelsea Preview

With both Manchester clubs pretty much nailed on for three more points each at the weekend, anything but a victory against West Ham tomorrow could leave us in a very sorry situation. Most of us predicted and would’ve been happy with a 3rd place finish this year; to have made the best start to a Premier League season in history however and then be all but out of the running six weeks later… that’s just depressing.

There were more boos from the home fans against Fulham on Wednesday night. This time at least a fair percentage of the booing was provoked by the football Chelsea were playing, rather than just what a horrible, stupid, rubbish manager we seem to think our interim is. The result was a poor one, and as Benitez admitted after the game, we weren’t good enough/fluent enough in attack and we need to create more chances.

The Spaniard’s first two games haven’t elicited much excitement or optimism regarding the short term future. As always though you can rely on BlueChampions to remain staunchly positivist – if there’s an upside to a situation with Chelsea, you’ll read it here. The changes Rafa is making to our system/set up obviously haven’t come together yet, as you could’ve hardly expected they would have. The strategy he’s trying to put in place however and its key features I think are already very clear. Firstly he’s getting the team to play collectively much higher up the pitch, press harder and win the ball back quicker. You can see he’s also getting Cech to play the ball from the back and to start our build up play with the defenders. It’s a tactic that’s never really worked for us in the past but it’s something that all the top teams should be competent enough in doing – I think we’re right to be persevering.

Finally the main difference you can see between Benitez’ system and di Matteo’s is the disparity in the compartmentalisation of player’s roles. In di Matteo’s 4-2-3-1 it was very much, the attackers attack and the defenders defend. Now it seems we’re trying to do everything as more of a collective, obviously at the moment we’re better at defending rather than attacking as a team.

There’s no doubt Rafa’s system is more demanding of each player and it’ll take time to come together – however the work ethic, the intelligence and the talent is evidently there in the squad to make it work. This is surely the best group of players Rafa has ever worked with. He clearly backs himself to a make a special team with them, and I agree some vocal backing from the supporters wouldn’t go amiss.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, on paper, our game with West Ham doesn’t exactly scream out ‘potential thriller’. Both teams are on a poor run, add in all the negativity surrounding Chelsea at the moment and the Hammers solidly direct way of playing around Andy Carroll – it’s hard to imagine many neutrals looking forward to it.

The main criticism of Chelsea in the final few weeks of di Matteo’s reign was how poorly we defended the flanks and left our full backs exposed. Most likely that wouldn’t have been a issue with West Ham anyway given all of their plays tend up build up through the middle of the park.

Team Selection:

After two consecutive clean sheets it’s doubtful Rafa would’ve wanted to change the back line, but with Luiz’ suspension Gary Cahill will have to come in for the Brazilian to partner Ivanovic at centre back, meaning Azpilicueta will keep his place also. I assume Mikel will come back in for Romeu and that Mata will return as well. Marko Marin finally made his league debut on Wednesday and it’d be good to see him start the game on Saturday, leaving either Hazard or Oscar to play as the #10. It may be more likely Victor Moses will get rotated in however over the German. Torres remains the only option up front once more in Sturridge’s absence, the Spaniard has six goals in six games against West Ham in the PL however – they’re statistically his favourite opposition in English football.

West Ham will sit back and look to counter attack no doubt. The result almost certainly will be decided by how easily we can break them down and create chances. 1-0 seems a safe a prediction although if we score early we should hopefully win by a few more, with Sam Allardyce not being the sort of manager to sit back and prevent a potential thrashing.

Quick side note: Why on earth the English media have started referring to Mazacar as ‘The Three Amigos’ when only Mata is Spanish is beyond me. I don’t like it. It’s a very lazy moniker for three such exceptional players. I hope it doesn’t stick.

Finally, I don’t usually like to write about transfer rumours but links to two young Brazilian players have arisen recently and both seem to have something to them. 18 year old Fluminense right back, Wallace Oliveira dos Santos was one the players we bought part of the rights to in the deal to sell Deco to the Rio based club. Not that I’m ever against talented Brazilian teenagers joining Chelsea but if he does sign in January (which it looks like he will) it’s hard to imagine him being part of the first team for at least 18 months. The acquiring of Azpilicueta this summer makes this deal seem somewhat irrelevant to be brutally honest. The other name being mentioned is 24 year old Metalist Kharkiv striker Taison Barcellos Fredo (a former teammate of Oscar at Internacional). The story that broke our interest in the player was published in Globo Esporte – normally a very reliable paper in Brazil. Some sources even reported the player was in the stands for the game on Wednesday night. I really don’t know how much truth there is to this but I’d suggest it’s more than just a rumour. I can’t comment on how good he is but regardless he’d add needed depth to our measly strike force. I doubt the signing of £10m forward from the Ukraine however would do much to quieten the constant links to Andre Schurrle and Falcao.

What am I? A highly evolved male primate from England. A 21 year old student of Accounting and Economics. A lover of English literature and European football. Very keen blogger and essayist. Wannabe polemicist. Leftist. Humanist. Atheist. Scorpio. Always up for a debate. Gravatar: Christopher Hitchens

14 Comments

As far as I can see.. Benitez is doing no different to what Mourinho would be doing. Building a solid defence and working from there. 2 clean sheets in a row? Unheard of at Chelsea for the past two seasons.

The same way Spaniards believe keeping most of the ball is as effective defensively as it is offensively, it is the same for Italians who believe keeping a clean sheet can guarantee you at least a point.

West Ham are likely to use Carroll to full effect since we are defending deep and get those crosses in the box. To counter this we should defend higher up the pitch and look to close down the flanks as quickly as possible while trying to pierce the ball through the middle. If we defend deep against West Ham, Carroll WILL punish us.

Quick, direct football working around Alonso, Gerrard and Torres. Rigid defenders in Carragher and Agger. Attacking full backs in Arbeloa and Aurélio who can also defend. Not afraid of defending against wingers willing to run at them, unlike Cole and Ivanovic. Deep lying playmaker in Alonso orchestrating the tempo of Liverpool's game while being able to thread a ball either on the ground or in the air for the wingers or the striker. Hard working wingers, especially Kuyt, aiding in supporting the forwards as well as the defenders. As many crosses as possible is the motto. Striker running into the channels looking for service using his movement and pace to wreak havoc. Second striker in behind him able to spread it wide for the wingers, through to the striker or take a pop.

Defensively strong
Lacked natural width but completed a whole set of crosses
Plenty of creativity aimed at getting the best out of the striker who NEEDS service to thrive

That was Benitez's Liverpool.

For now.. I would bench Hazard and Oscar in favour of a front three of Marin - Mata - Moses/Ramires. In midfield Ramires/Lampard next to Romeu/Mikel. In defence I would continue with our current back four.

We need to sort out our transitional play from attack to defence as we are too slow to cover the spaces left and teams are taking advantage of the spaces on our flanks. I think looking at our Man City game, Benitez has already set about fixing this crucial area.

We also need to stop playing so slow and laboured as well as trying to be so intricate. Unless you have a team full of some of the greatest players to ever walk this earth who have been playing together in the same system since they were children.. there is no point trying to replicate their style of football, something which has taken them 40 years to perfect.

In January, a striker and two midfielders are a must.

Damaio/Falcao are my preferred targets
Fellaini is a must buy to replace Mikel
We also need a passing midfielder. We have De Bruyne and McEachran who fit the bill perfectly but they are unlikely to come back and play. I preferred choice would Moutinho or pretty much any Dutch or Spanish midfielder who acts as a deep lying playmaker under the age of 25.

I see Guardiola heading to Man City and Mourinho to Chelsea in my dreams. But again.. those are just my dreams. The way I see it.. Pep is destined for England and he is definitely not coming to Chelsea seeing as we don't suit him both player wise and owner wise. I also see Barcelona winning La Liga and Copa del Rey this year as well. I have a feeling Dortmund may win the Champions League, if not then Barcelona. Barcelona have already won La Liga in my opinion. Everyone of their top stars has hit form at the same time meanwhile Madrid are not even clicking. Ozil, Ronaldo and Benzema especially have been way off the pace. Mourinho to Chelsea, Cole to PSG, Lampard to China.

My predicted line-up. Cech,Azpilicueta,Ivanovic,Cahill,Cole,Ramires,Mikel,Moses,Mata(in the hole),Marin and Torres. I'm not too sure about Marin though. He had only 10 minutes on Wednesday to start this game but we'll see. Hazard needs to rest on the bench and try to come on as a game changer in the second somewhere around the 70th minute. Defenders will be tired so he will be that fresh threat. Then Oscar for Moses so that we can pin West Ham back during the later stages of the game. I'm hoping for a win in this match.

Chelsea Desperately need three points, I know its early days but Rafa is under pressure, the overall defensive effort by the attacking players have improved since Di, Matteo has left, but in attack we seem to be out of ideas and slow in transition. My starting line up:
Cech
Azpi Ivanovic Cahill Cole
Mikel Ramires
Marin Mata Oscar
Torres
goalscorers Torres and Mata....... 2-1 to chelsea

Rafa and Torres put. Enough is enough. Roberto would of not dropped this many points versus Fulham and West Ham. Torres continues to shit on Chelsea. For fuks sake play Islam Feruz or Bramfrod at least they will do something.

A player we should be looking at as a cheaper alternative to Falcao and Cavani is Michu. If we offer 20 million pounds I think Swansea will accept. He is what Torres was thought to be when we bought him.

Had half a bottle of grog last night ....after all the shennanigans of last two weeks....... Must say but do feel a mite better....... All u chels fans ....ktbffh and cheers ...bottoms up tonite as well.....

Torres is not the only Problem guys, there are 11 players on the field and to be quite honest all are responsible for the poor performances we have seen in the last 5 weeks. John Terry and Frank Lampard Leadership and Experience are sorely missing. We cannot continue to just blame Torres and think a new forward will solve all our problems. Hazard has been very ordinary in this poor run, Oscar has played good in patches, i don't know whats going on but, Maybe the trip to Asia will help this Team.

I Have recently commented on previous blog Topics, that despite the fact that the MAZACAR trio have very good quality, the physical presence in their game is not there, Too many times I have seen this season these guys are dispossess and the opposition launch a counter attack, HAZARD, MATA, and OSCAR have to build strength if they want to EXCEL in the English Premier League. It is very obvious that Chelsea have lost strength in Midfield, with the inclusion of HAZARD and Oscar, previously we had Essien, Miereles, Malouda, Drogba, we have sacrificed our strength, for technical stylish players and in my opinion we are being completely bullied and overrun by Premier league Teams that have strength. Prime example was against West Ham, after the poor display in the first half by the Hammers, Sam Allerdyce brought on DIAME in the Midfield, and he used his strength and power to terrorize or right hand side.
My point is to dominate the Premier League you have to have players that can compete Physically. Our Coach has seen this aspect that is lacking in our game, He has said and I qoute "In the Premier League it is very physical and if you cannot cope with the physicality, maybe you cannot use your quality" which in my opinion something Chelsea Needs to address, you can have all the Quality but you need a Physical Team